Infrastructure evaluation of Pharmaceutical Services in the National Health System of Minas Gerais

In 2008 the state of Minas Gerais created the "Program Rede Farmacia de Minas" (RFM), a strategy to ensure adequate infrastructure of local public pharmacies, in order to improve the quality of medications use. Objectives: To characterize the infrastructure of public pharmacies in Minas Gerais, comparing municipalities that have received the RFM program to the ones that haven't, in order to verify if the State's Economic Incentives implied in improvement of local Pharmaceutical Services (PS). Methods: A cross-sectional, exploratory, evaluative study in a representative sample of the municipalities of Minas Gerais. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with users, physicians, and drug dispensers, as well as observation of pharmacy facilities and telephone interviews with municipal officials from the PS. 104 municipalities were selected, of which 41.3% had adopted the RFM. Data were collected from July 2014 to May 2015. Results: Municipalities adept to the RFM presented significantly higher rates of legal documentation, more comfort for users and staff, better storage conditions of medicine and competence to conduct clinical activities. Conclusion: The higher state investment in the PS organization for municipalities adept to the RFM developed better infrastructure that have been approved by health professionals and the users of the National Health System.